Mere
holding of certain literature through which violent acts may be propagated
would not attract the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the
Supreme Court on Friday said as it granted bail to activists Vernon Gonsalves
and Arun Ferreira in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case.
A
bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Sudhanshu Dhulia said the actual
involvement of Gonsalves and Ferreira in any terrorist act has not surfaced
from any third-party communications.
"Mere
holding of certain literatures through which violent acts may be propagated
would not ipso facto attract the provisions of Section 15(1)(b) (use of
criminal force or the show of criminal force or attempts to do so or cause the
death of any public functionary ) of the said Act.
"Thus,
prima facie, in our opinion, we cannot reasonably come to a finding that any
case against the appellants under Section 15(1) (b) of the 1967 Act can be held
to be true," the bench said.
According
to the NIA, various letters and other materials recovered from the arrested
co-accused persons including Surendra Gadling and Rona Wilson showed the
involvement of Gonsalves and Ferreira with the Communist Party of India
(Maoist).
The
top court said no evidence of their continued membership after the party was
classified as a terrorist organisation has been brought to its notice.